Hyotei and the House
by FireIceFusion
Summary: The Hyotei members take a trip to Atobe's newly built summer house! However, things are not what they seem...read on!
1. Yokoso, Hyotei!

Hihi all! I haven't been on for ages mainly due to this horrid writer's block and homework/exams that were piling up. Now, I have finally gained back some inspiration and have some time to spare (for now) so…I'm back!

Thus, here is the long awaited beginning for Hyotei and the house

Enjoy! ~

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Dear Hyotei tennis club regulars,

You have been invited to my newly built summer house to spend to winter vacation holidays, for the next two weeks. The only items you will need to bring along are yourselves.

From: Atobe Keigo

This was the message the tennis club members from Hyotei received a day before the winter holidays arrived. They were barely surprised at the fact that **another** summer house had been built; it was the one and only 'ore-sama', after all. There was a feeling of excited anticipation amongst them as the last of the school hours passed in a slow, antagonizing way.

"Schools out, schools out, schools out! No more freaking math to do anymore!" Mukahi Gakuto was jumping down the hallway as his tennis partner, Oshitari Yuushi walked calmly beside him.

"Anyway, Atobe has once again thrown us into yet another of his 'adventures'" Oshitari commented as they turned a corner and headed for the courts.

"Well, I don't really care, I just don't want to spend my days at home doing math!" Gakuto ranted on and Yuushi gave a small smirk. _Typical Gakuto. _

"Shishido-san, did you receive the letter from Atobe?" Ootori Choutarou approached his senior after class and enquired.

Shishido Ryou waved a lavishly decorated envelope in the air. "I think everyone else got it too" he replied, a dreaded feeling crossed his face. What weird tricks would Atobe pull out this time? Shishido thought as he made his way out of school with Ootori.

Jirou woke to find an envelope placed on his desk. He stared at it blankly for a second and then proceeded to open it slowly. He glanced over the Japanese handwriting and thought for a moment, then went back to sleep.

-----

A dominant volcano just west of Tokyo, standing at a length of 3,776 meters in height. Snow capped the rocky landscape, interlinked with cable-car lines. Mt. Fuji, Japan's highest mountain and one that is especially famous. Apart from the near to perfection scenery, one would be able to spot a quaint mansion just a little away on a rocky outcrop. Painted in white and grey to blend in with the surrounding, it belonged to the Atobe Corporation.

It was a long trip. Dressed in the winter coats their captain had provided, the Hyotei regulars trailed after Atobe.

It was earlier that afternoon that each member had been plucked out from their homes and transported to Mt Fuji, Atobe style-a helicopter. From there, it was a walk through some hidden passage to the cable-car station that would bring them to the summer house.

Now as the members sat looking out the glass windows of the cable-car, Atobe told the rest about his wonderful mansion.

"So you are saying that the roof of this house is a glass dome?" Shishido repeated, amused.

"Firstly, it's a mansion not a house, and the glass dome is fused with the roof. It's an observatory," 'ore-sama' declared.

There was a moment of silence-mainly because the members were trying to imagine what the mansion would look like. All of a sudden, Jirou sat up and shouted excitedly, "SUGEE! Where are Kabaji and Hiyoshi?"

Atobe sighed and replied, "Kabaji couldn't make it unfortunately, because he had some family matters to attend to."

"And Hiyoshi?" Oshitari asked.

"Oh, hmm, I guess I forgot about him" Atobe replied as if nothing was the matter.

Everyone's jaw dropped and silence filled the cabin once again. Jirou had gone to sleep and everyone else was just looking at Atobe in that 'how could you' kind of way.

"Lame" Shishido rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

"I guess it doesn't make a difference, as long as I don't have to do math!" Gakuto said chirpily and everyone relaxed. He turned to look out the window once again and saw them approaching the very mansion discussed only moments ago.

"We have arrived" Atobe announced as soon as the cable-car entered the station. The sliding doors opened and the members filed out. Then, the group made their way down a snowy path towards the house. Just a few meters away from the front doors, Gakuto started to dash towards it and soon after disappeared inside.

"There he goes again" Oshitari said in an exasperated voice and calmly made his way into the house to look for his tennis partner.

Soon, the rest arrived at the mansion. After they had taken off the snow flaked coats, Atobe addressed them. "Ore-sama will be at the magnificent glass house with Jirou, you can go reserve a room for yourself and explore the mansion. I highly recommend the _onsen_ which is on the second floor, third door to the left."

With that, the captain left, with a butler carrying Jirou close behind.

"Well I guess we're the only ones left, Shishido-san. I hope the rest are alright," Ootori turned to his senior and said.

"They should be. Come on, let's go look around," he replied and the pair headed down the hallway towards whatever lay beyond.

-----

"Gakuto!" Oshitari called out for the fifth time as he made his way down the lavish hallway. No matter how nice it looked, the hallway just seemed slightly creepy. Oshitari approached a door that was along the corridor. It was made of simple oak with a shiny gold knob. A cleaner's closet, Gakuto can't possibly be in here, he thought but went ahead to open it anyway.

However, Oshitari thought wrong. Out stumbled Gakuto along with various cleaning equipment. Oshitari jumped back in surprise as Gakuto landed neatly in front of him.

"Did you see that?!" his partner asked excitedly.

"…it's just a closet?" Yuushi was clearly puzzled.

"No, no! I mean that thing which looked like a fairy!" Gakuto ranted on.

"A fairy…" Oshitari could only raise his eyebrows and wonder what in the world Gakuto had seen.

At another wing of the mansion, Ootori had discovered something else. "Shishido-san, I found the hot spring!" he called out. Ootori's head was stuck in a door with steam pouring out.

Shishido headed over and peeked into the room. It was large with walls made of fine wood giving way to a lush Japanese garden covered in snow. Behind the wooden panel entrance, there were three _iwaburo_, in increasing sizes. A _takiyu_ flowed into the smallest pool which in turn led to the bigger ones. There was the usual washing area just slightly away from the main hot springs and custom sets of clothes were hung up for each of the members.

"Wow, this is the coolest _onsen_ I've seen!" Ootori exclaimed.

"Hah, it's Atobe after all" Shishido shrugged and gestured for his junior to enter. Both of them mutually decided to have a soak and thus, they changed, washed and got into the springs.

"This is great" Shishido sighed, his eyes closed, feeling his aches from tennis training ease off.

"I agree!" a voice replied, but it wasn't his junior's.

Shishido opened his eyes and blinked. Sitting opposite him was a turtle like creature. What frightened him more was the fact he knew that it was a kappa.

Kappas were Japanese mythological creatures said to reside along the various water bodies in Japanese towns. Shishido's mother had always told the young Shishido that if he went too near the water, a kappa would get him. He didn't expect that they would appear in hot springs as well.

"Hello, I'm Ootori Choutarou. Are you here to enjoy Atobe's house as well?" Shishido heard his junior ask the kappa.

"That right, sorry if I frightened you. I hope I'm not disturbing anyone" the kappa replied sincerely.

"That's alright, I don't see many of your kind around" Ootori said.

"That's right, ever since people have made Mt Fuji into a tourist attraction, many of us left to look for better places to live. However, other places were equally unsuitable. Mankind has destroyed our natural habitat," the kappa explained.

Ootori looked towards his senior, who sat frozen in a sort of horror. "Shishido-san, are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

"I'm getting out of here" Shishido said in a hurry and before anyone (or any creature) could stop him, he dashed out.

"Shishido-san, at least put on your _yukata_!" Ootori called after him but he was already gone.

"I can't believe him" Ootori sighed and said to the kappa. It gave him a smile (if turtles can smile) and pulled out a small cloth bag. The kappa handed the bag to Ootori.

"I'm sorry I scared your friend, he looks very familiar though. I hope you will appreciate my gift as an apology," the kappa said.

"Ah, thank you," Ootori received the bag and looked at it curiously. On it was a label which said: special kappa hot springs medicine, use wisely. The label faintly reminded Ootori of someone from Seigaku, but it didn't really matter.

"Well, I should be going now, see you," the kappa gave a nod and disappeared among the bushes of the Japanese garden.

Ootori laid back against the stone that made up the hot spring, the cloth bag laid sat on one of the dry stones along the edge of the pool. Oh that right, Ootori thought after a moment, Shishido-san told me he lived near a river before.

-----

Shishido ran all the way to the glass dome. He burst through the door and Atobe turned to look at him.

"Shishido, why are you- oh forget it, what do you want?" Atobe was enjoying his earl grey when Shishido appeared wearing only a cloth around his waist and dripping wet.

"Did you know that there's a kappa in your hot spring?!" Shishido said and ran a hand through his hair.

"A kappa," Atobe echoed, sipping his tea.

"Yes, what else," Shishido replied exasperated.

"Oh those Japanese legends, you've probably been soaking too long. Just go get something to wear will you, be off now," Atobe sipped his tea again.

"But Choutarou was talking to it!" Shishido protested then sighed and headed off, knowing it was useless talking to 'ore-sama'.

"Everyone, we shall start off this winter vacation with eating specially prepared _oden_!" dinner had started and the members were gathered at the dining table.

"Yay _oden_!" Gakuto exclaimed and eagerly helped himself to the food which was served in elegant gold dishes. Everyone else followed suit.

"Shishido-san, why did you run out just now?" Ootori asked him quietly during the meal.

"A kappa was in the hot springs! Atobe says there's no such thing so why in the world were you talking to something that isn't supposed to be there?!" Shishido flared up.

Ootori was taken aback. "Ah, Shishido-san-" he was lost for words because clearly, his senior made sense-in a way.

Oshitari who had overheard the conversation spoke up. "Relax, Gakuto here has been ranting on about fairies and I have no clue what he is talking about."

Both Shishido and Ootori looked towards Gakuto, who was busily eating. Then, they looked at Oshitari again. There was a tense silence.

Dinner passed quickly, everyone absorbed in their own thoughts. It was getting late and so the members retreated to their rooms.

"So what is this fairy thing again?" Oshitari attempted to figure things out before he went to bed.

"Yeah, I saw one! And it was like really small and it was in a hurry because it was running away and I followed it and that's when I came out from that closet!" Gakuto rambled. Oshitari sighed; things were going to get complicated.

"Sorry about what happened just now Choutarou," Shishido apologized quickly to his junior.

Each had settled on their bed, in their shared room.

"It's alright Shishido-san, but look what I got from the kappa!" Ootori held out the small cloth bag.

"…lame" Shishido replied and hid under the thick covers, not wanting to think about anything kappa-related ever again.

-----

Ootori heard a muffled sneeze coming from under the covers in the bed beside him. He sleepily sat up and rubbed his eyes, glancing at the clock. It was 7 30, a rather early timing to be waking up at during a vacation.

Shishido felt a hand shake him awake; he groaned and turned over, pulling the covers over his head. He didn't feel so well that morning…if it was even the morning. A firm hand pulled the covers away.

"Shishido-san, you have a fever!" he heard the concerned voice of his junior and a hand on his forehead. Shishido blinked tiredly, he somehow thought Ootori was right.

"Must have been yesterday…" his voice was rough.

"Hold on, I'll go get Atobe!" Shishido heard the footsteps of his junior fade away as he fell back into a feverish sleep.

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That's all for now, hope you enjoyed it and feel free to comment and correct me. Thank you for reading and credit goes to:

Japanese dictionary:

Iwaburo: bath made out of rock formation, natural or constructed

Yukata: the light cotton robe in your inn's closet. The idea is to change into your _yukata_ when you arrive at the inn and not change back into your clothes until you leave.

Onsen: Japanese hot spring

Takiyu: a stream of hot water falling down from a height

Oden: a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, konnyaku, and processed fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth.


	2. The Great Freeze

Here's the second chapter to Hyotei and the House.

Enjoy! ~

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Mukahi Gakuto yawned and excitedly hopped out of bed; peering out of the window- it was going to be an exciting new day. The ledge was piled high with snow and the weather was extremely cold that morning. He saw a glint in the whiteness outside and attempted to open the window to take a closer look.

He succeeded, and a gust of cold air blew into the room, chilling him. The glint was brighter yet, a soft whispering accompanied it. "Gakuto…you have to come…" the voice soon faded away to a soft whistling of the wind. His gaze was affixed to the swirling snow outside when a hand closed the window again.

"Gakuto, why did you open the window at this hour of the morning? Its freezing, I think there's going to be a blizzard," Oshitari's voice cut into his partner's thoughts.

"Hey, hey did you see that?" Gakuto asked excitedly-again.

"Don't tell me, another fairy," Oshitari made an irritated guess.

"Yeah, and I think it needed help or something!" Gakuto replied and glanced outside again.

Oshitari stared at him, he had draped a large blanket over his shoulders to warm himself and it trailed off to the ground. "…" he had nothing to say, entirely.

However, things were clearly different only a few rooms away. Atobe had finally arrived at the bedroom after moments of banging on the door (with the name Atobe Keigo labeled in gold) to wake him. He had brought along a doctor to examine Shishido and the results were just a common winter cold.

Atobe was rather annoyed but as everyone knew, he kept up his 'perfect' image by saying, "since everyone is more or less awake, breakfast will start shortly."

Ootori nodded and glanced towards his senior. It was meant to be a holiday but instead, things were turning out all wrong from the start. How horrible, I hope things don't get any worse, Ootori thought, but little did he know that things were about to take a twist.

The news came faster than expected, a blizzard was approaching. The group stayed huddled in Atobe's fireplace room after lunch. Oshitari was quietly reading a book with Gakuto leaning on his shoulder, dozing off. Ootori stared lazily out of the window, watching the snow fall slowly, slowly…

Ootori woke with a jerk. He glanced around frantically for a second, and then remembered that he was on a holiday in Atobe's mansion. The fire at the fireplace had died off to smothering embers and the room was dark. Ootori was surprised to find the temperature surprisingly chilly despite the heating system Atobe had boasted about while he was introducing the features of the house.

He stood from his place and headed towards the door, aiming to locate the rest of his friends. Ootori headed down the hallway, the dim lighting cast long shadows. Suddenly, he stopped. Someone, or something, was approaching, footsteps softly padding down the hall. The sound got louder, Ootori's eyes widened as a long, disfigured shadow was cast just beyond the bend.

Ootori froze but was extremely relieved to see that it was only his senior, Shishido, wrapped in his large blanket that he had taken from the bedroom.

"Shishido-san!" Ootori cried out in relief and headed towards his senior.

"Ah, have you seen Atobe? It's freezing in here, which is weird," Shishido replied, shivering a little.

"Actually, no, I haven't seen anyone ever since after breakfast," Ootori replied just as puzzled.

"This house can't possibly be that big!" Shishido exclaimed and sighed soon after. "Come on, let's go look for them."

The pair started on the hunt for their team mates. They looked in every room that was possible, explored every corridor and even dared to enter the roof top greenhouse where they found Jirou sleeping and who was of clearly no help at all. Suddenly, a ringing tone sounded all over the greenhouse. It appeared to come from a simple phone mounted on the wall beside the entrance.

Shishido headed over and picked up the receiver. "Hello, can you hear me?" a voice on the other line said.

"Uh, is that you Gakuto?" Shishido was surprised.

"Yes, yes. Oshitari and I are on the roof now fixing the heater thingy. Well, Oshitari is fixing it anyway," Gakuto said into the receiver on his end. He glanced back to where Oshitari was and watched for a moment as he fiddled with a screwdriver before proceeding to unscrew various parts of the heating system. Atobe had ordered them to change into winter outfits once he realized that the heater had broken down. As members of the Hyotei tennis club, or any other club for that matter, Mukahi and Oshitari had no choice but to obey.

"How did you even get up there, where ever you are," Shishido asked on his end and Gakuto replied with, "there was this door."

There was some idle conversation that followed after. "Anyway, you should get back to the bedrooms; Atobe said that it would be the place that gets warmed up first."

Shishido agreed to Gakuto's suggestion and asked about the situation on the other end. There was a pause, and then he replied with a few muffled words. What followed after was the sound of something being hit, swear words coming from Oshitari, and Gakuto shouting something before the line went dead.

Shishido stared for a moment and put the phone back into the holder.

"How is it?" his junior asked.

Shishido could only shrug and reply, "the line went dead halfway, I hope they get it fixed soon. Let's head back to our bedrooms first; Mukahi said that it would be the first place the warmth will be received."

"Okay"

They headed back to the bedroom where Shishido immediately curled up on his bed and closed his eyes.

"Shishido-san, are you alright?" Ootori asked knowing that his senior was not fully well yet.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," came the reply and then, only the howling wind could be heard and the snow, engulfing the house n white.

-----

"Oh f-, I think I broke something," Gakuto heard his partner curse and a series of screeching sounds started. Gakuto winced and covered his ears with his hands. The wind around them was getting stronger, whipping their hair and making them shiver despite their winter gear. Gakuto rolled his eyes and walked over cautiously to take a look.

"Let's just make do without it," he said and took a part of the heater out of Oshitari's hands and tossed it aside, where snow started covering it. Oshitari continued to mess with the heater system, which didn't make anything better.

"Doesn't Atobe have like mechanics or something? He's so rich after all," Gakuto complained and idly tossed the communication device between his two hands.

"Well, he did say it was a new house, although I don't think things are supposed to go on like this," Oshitari replied and unknowingly yanked off another part of the system. Something shifted, then-

-"Watch out!" Gakuto shouted and grabbed his partner by his arm, dragging him away as the snow on the roof started to crumble. A thick layer of it rushed towards them like an avalanche and poured down the side of the roof like a rushing waterfall. The two sat in a tangled mess at one side, panting hard and staring at the piled up snow.

"T-Thanks…" Oshitari got up shakily and dusted himself off. Gakuto gave him a look of dismay and said, "I lost the communication device."

"It's alright; we can just go back into the house. Since the snow is cleared, I think I can get the heater back up faster," Oshitari replied, not bothering to turn to look at Gakuto.

"Fine, should I go get Atobe or something? Maybe he can help," Gakuto suggested as he surveyed their surroundings.

"No, it's okay, stay with me," Oshitari replied and Gakuto sat back down and smiled, watching as the snow covered the roof once more.

-----

Shishido tossed and turned in the bed, his head was aching and the covers did nothing to prevent the cold from chilling him. He sat up, feeling restless, and scanned the room with glazed eyes. Immediately, his junior came up to him looking worried as usual.

"Shishido-san, you don't look so well," he said.

"It's nothing, has the heater been fixed yet, it getting colder," he replied, feeling weary and lying back down onto the bed again.

"I don't think so…" Ootori stuck his hands into his pockets and was surprised to find something inside. He took it out- a familiar cloth bag. Immediately, he eyes widened and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Shishido-san, take this medicine!" he said sounding relieved and excited at the same time.

Shishido rolled over and eyed the bag in his junior's hands. He groaned and closed his eyes, asking "what's that?"

"It's what the kappa gave me, remember? It's said that kappas are experts at medicine and such," Ootori replied and slowly opened the bag. Inside was a single pill in a shade of cool blue.

He turned to his senior, who had conveniently dragged the blanket over his head. At the call of his name once again, Shishido turned, pushed the blanket away slightly and felt a pill being forced down his throat. He jerked up, choked on whatever his junior had popped into his mouth and then forced himself to swallow it.

"Oh god, Choutarou, what the hell did you do?" Shishido said, his throat burning.

"Sorry Shishido-san but if I told you I was going to give you what was in the bag, you would have definitely not taken it," Ootori had an apologetic look on his face.

There was silence before Shishido plopped back onto the bed, too tired to think, to care about what had just happened. He drifted off to sleep, the soft gaze of his junior watching him.

Back on the rooftop of the house, two other tennis members were messing with the heater. "Argh, I can't get this stupid thing to work!" Oshitari had given up and decided to let Gakuto try out, but to no avail.

"Hmm…maybe you should really go call Atobe now," his partner suggested.

"Screw Atobe," Gakuto muttered. He impatiently tapped at the malfunctioned machine, wishing it would just work. "Okay, I don't care anymore, I'm going back into the house," Gakuto declared and headed towards the door that led down to the house.

Oshitari decided to follow as well, there was no use staying on the roof since the heater couldn't be fixed. He gathered the tools and headed towards the door as well, surprised to find Gakuto still there.

"What's going on?" he asked and Gakuto gave him a grim expression.

"The door won't open," he said, desperately pulling at the handle to prove his point.

"Let's take apart the door then,' Oshitari suggested and Gakuto shook his head.

"The door has nothing we can take apart, no hinges and stuff!" Gakuto exclaimed and gave up trying to open the door.

"Well, there must be some way to get into the house because we can't possibly jump down 5 stories…." Oshitari looked around and he caught sight of an open window just below the roof. "In there," he pointed and headed over.

Gakuto followed closely behind, peeking over the ledge of the roof to see a single glass window open. Oshitari gestured for him to go first and Gakuto nodded. He sat on the edge of the roof and nimbly slid down, his feet touching the ledge of the window, and then he dropped into the room. Oshitari followed soon after.

Out of the snow, the two breathed a sigh of relief. Then, they took note of their surroundings. They were in a well decorated room, a warm file place was lit and sitting in front of it was none other than Atobe Keigo.

"Atobe!!" Gakuto demanded to know what was going on.

"Oh nothing really, it's just so fun to test the limits of your team members," Atobe smiled and said.

Oshitari knew this wasn't going to be good so he asked, "Are you going to fix the heater? Your team members are merely human for your information."

"Yes, yes of course. Ore-sama is not going to let Shishido die just like that, but ore-sama is sure Ootori has a solution to his problem…" Atobe let his voice trail off.

"Fine, let's go Gakuto," Oshitari turned and left. Gakuto protested but followed behind. Atobe shook his head and smiled, this holiday was going to be a fun one.

-----

Shishido woke up to bright sunlight shining through the window. It was morning already? He thought and sat up in bed looking out the window. He felt so much better now, the thick layer of snow looked like a soft blanket compared to the storm the day before. He knew the heater was working; the room was cozy and warm- A great way to start the day.

After breakfast, Atobe addressed all the team members.

"Okay everyone! Today, we're going snowboarding!"

-----

That's it for now~

I have a funny feeling I screwed up on the characters a little. Ok, maybe a lot. Well, hope you guys still enjoy it.

Feel free to comment, thanks!


	3. Cave In

The most exciting chapter yet! XD

Well then, enjoy! ~

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"Snowboarding," Ootori echoed and Atobe nodded.

"Exactly, now everyone go put on your gear and meet me outside," Atobe instructed and everyone headed off to carry out their preparations. Soon after, they were standing on the snowy hill, a steep slope in front of them.

"Okay, has anyone not snowboarded before?" Atobe asked.

"Uh, I haven't" Gakuto said somewhat embarrassed when no one else replied. He didn't think that everyone had done snowboarding before.

"Oh great, never mind then. Oshitari, you teach Gakuto and join us later. Everyone else, follow me," Atobe pulled down his goggles and went down the slope on his board, sending snow spraying everywhere, with the others following close behind.

Oshitari stared after them; Gakuto just had to ruin his fun-again. Well then, he thought, better to get over this quickly so that we can be on our way. So, Oshitari taught Gakuto the basics of snowboarding, how to stop, turn and other various things. After ensuring that Gakuto more or less knew everything they set off.

"Okay, just remember to keep your balance. This slope doesn't look too rocky so you should be okay, let's go." Oshitari said and followed behind Gakuto. They got off to a good start; whizzing past trees and soon, spotted the others just a little way ahead of them. Suddenly, something whizzed past Gakuto's head and he instinctively jerked away, causing himself to lose balance.

He cried out in surprise as he tried to get back his balance, unfortunately, he was headed straight for a tree and desperately tried to dodge it, banging into Oshitari in the process.

"Gakuto, are you trying to kill us?!" Oshitari shouted as he tried to push Gakuto away and gain balance.

"Yuushi, it's all your fault!" Gakuto shouted back. The two were now heading entirely off course, crashing through thick trees.

Gakuto shut his eyes, afraid to see what would happen next. Then, he found himself falling, still grabbing onto Oshitari's coat. And then, both of them hit the hard ice.

"Oww," Gakuto cried and heard Yuushi give similar responses. He glanced down to see their boards broken.

"Argh," Oshitari groaned and he pushed Gakuto, who was right on top of him, away. They had landed into an ice cave, he concluded after surveying his surroundings, and to his dismay, there wasn't any way back out. Then, something made him cringe. A searing pain was running up his ankle, and he realized that he had sprained it because of the fall. Oshitari cursed softly but immediately regained his composure as Gakuto got a hold of his surroundings and got up.

Gakuto held out a hand to Oshitari and he grabbed it. Staggering as he stood, Gakuto asked curiously, "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine" Oshitari bit his lip to control himself from shouting out in pain.

"Let's get these boards off," Gakuto suggested, and started to take out his shoes from the board. Oshitari followed suit, doing it gently so as not to make his injury worse: he was seriously starting to doubt Atobe and his greatness.

"Gakuto…" a whispery voice made Gakuto jerk his head towards the darkness of the tunnel. There was quiet for a moment, then a flurry of sudden movement. A girl no larger than Gakuto's palm appeared in front of him, clad in a white winter coat-a fairy.

Gakuto stared at it, wide eyed. "Um…are you…a fairy?" he asked, unbelieving.

"Yes…we've been waiting for you…" the fairy floated off into the darkness.

"Come on Yuushi, we have to get going!" Gakuto said and pulled his partner by the wrist, as they headed off into the darkness.

"Where are we going?" Oshitari asked, having trouble trying to keep up.

"I don't know! I'm following a fairy right now… you can't see it?" Gakuto stopped abruptly and asked.

"…am I supposed to see something?" Oshitari was puzzled.

"Never mind, come on," Gakuto continued following the glinting light up ahead and Oshitari trailed behind him, confused.

-----

"Gakuto…" the fairy cooed his name again.

"What is it?" Gakuto responded

"Your friend…" the voice faded away as Gakuto turned, expecting to see Oshitari right behind him. He was, however, Gakuto noticed that he was limping.

"Yuushi, what happened?" he stopped and asked.

"Nothing," Oshitari gave a strained reply, he knew his injury was getting worse from all the walking.

"His ankle…" the fairy gave a playful hint. Gakuto eyed Oshitari's ankle, and saw him look away.

"You sprained it? How?" he asked concerned.

"When we fell into the cave," was Oshitari's soft reply.

"And you've been walking all this time like nothing ever happened?" Gakuto couldn't believe it.

"…yeah," Oshitari said, there was a hint of pain in his voice.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gakuto demanded-his partner's injury was serious.

"Because I just didn't, it won't help if you bother about it now anyway, let's keep going," Oshitari replied nonchalantly.

"Okay, come on," Gakuto frowned but continued to lead the way. After a moment, Oshitari had started to lag behind and Gakuto ran back to his side.

"This is so troublesome," Gakuto complained to no one in particular and his partner refused to reply. "Okay, let's take a break," he declared, for his partner's sake.

"Yeah," Oshitari nodded in agreement. They decided to rest at a small corner of the cave.

There was a long moment of silence as each of them was absorbed in their own thoughts. Finally, Gakuto spoke.

"Yuushi…" Gakuto's voice was soft but not afraid.

"Mm?" the pain in Oshitari's ankle made him give a grunt as a response.

"It's so cold…and dark" Gakuto continued.

"…sit closer," Oshitari suggested and Gakuto snuggled close to him. Gakuto could be such a kid sometimes, Oshitari thought, smiling tiredly. He felt Gakuto's head on his shoulder and he closed his eyes, wishing the pain and cold would go away.

-----

It was shortly after their break when they continued their journey through the cave. Then, they met with a fork in the tunnels.

"Which way should we go? I say left," Oshitari said as they neared a fork in the tunnels.

"Eh, but the fairies tell me to go right…" Gakuto said and received nods from the mystical creature beside him.

Oshitari rolled his eyes, fairies again. "How can you trust these fairies, I don't even know if you're making it up or not."

"Of course I'm not making it up!" Gakuto retorted.

"Where's your proof then?" Oshitari might have sounded unreasonable but he couldn't take it any longer.

"I don't need proof! If you trust me enough, then you'll follow. If not, then you can go your own way," Gakuto shouted back and hastily walked off.

Oshitari frowned and headed towards the left instead, Gakuto was just being extremely ridiculous. He made his way slowly down the dim tunnels. After walking for what seemed like ages, Oshitari couldn't take it anymore. He sat down on the spot where he was standing and started contemplating.

It was quiet; Oshitari regretted what he had done. He wouldn't have wanted to split ways with his partner for anything, especially in this situation. He leaned against the ice walls feeling weary, but the constant pain in his ankle kept him awake.

It had been not a few moments when he felt something. He turned to look at the dark tunnel and a pair of icy eyes greeted him. He let out a startled yelp and stood up with disregards to his injury. A looming figure came out of the shadows, made entirely of ice in the form of a bear with claws. Oshitari frowned, he couldn't attack, and he didn't have anything on hand. The only thing to do was to run, and so, he did.

-----

Gakuto grumbled angrily as he headed down the other path. Yuushi was such a pain sometimes, he thought. The fairy drifted beside him, a worried look crossed her face.

"You should head back…" she said

"Why?" Gakuto asked, annoyed.

"He's in danger…" the fairy said.

"Humph, no one asked him to go running off on his own in that kind of condition," Gakuto retorted and the fairy shook her head.

"The reason why I asked you to come was because there is a beast in our midst, we need your help to get rid of it," the fairy explained.

"Don't tell me…" Gakuto stopped and the fairy smiled. He dashed back, hoping that Oshitari would be alright.

-----

Oshitari back tracked as quickly as he could manage, with the ice creature right behind him. He arrived at the fork in the passage and chooses to go the way Gakuto went instead. He was panting hard now, his ankle slowly him down greatly. Suddenly, he saw a figure running in his direction- it was Gakuto.

Gakuto stopped abruptly in front of his partner, hiding how relieved he was. "Uh…what are you doing here?" he asked sheepishly.

"No time to explain, run!" Oshitari whipped his head around to see the ice monster approaching. He saw Gakuto's eyes widen and pushed him forward to get him going. It was a mad race for the entrance, which seemed further away than it looked. The ice creature caught up fast, swiping the pair wildly with its 'paws'. It caught and smashed him into the ice wall along the passage. Gakuto turned back, dodging while trying to make his way to Oshitari.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, rushed but in concern.

"Obviously not, but I'll live," Oshitari replied through gritted teeth and got up unsteadily.

The ice monster approached them again, Gakuto searched desperately for something that he could use as a weapon-anything. Oshitari barely managed to dodge the ice claw that headed straight towards him. He ducked and missed the blade by inches, pain running up his leg as he landed. Gakuto jumped away quickly, he dug his hands into his pockets, and to his amazement, found a matchbox. A playful grin appeared on his face. He lit the matchstick and threw it towards the beast. It gave a bloodcurdling howl and was consumed by the flames.

Oshitari stared grimly at the remains of the monster- a puddle of liquid. Gakuto headed over with the fairy floating close by.

"Thank you…" the fairy gave its thanks and Gakuto nodded. "Now I shall show you out."

Lead by the fairy, Gakuto and Oshitari followed in silence. They soon found their way out, and were greeted by the setting sun.

"Wow, I didn't know we were in the cave for so long…" Gakuto said and Oshitari nodded in agreement.

"Well, at least we got out of there and-" Oshitari stopped mid sentence and cringed, falling to his knees. His ankle was hurting so bad, he couldn't stand any longer.

Gakuto looked on concerned, turning to his fairy friend for help. She smiled and requested for Oshitari to take off the snowboarding boots. Gakuto conveyed the message and Oshitari nodded, gingerly removing his boots. His ankle was swollen, Oshitari refused to look at it any longer. The fairy floated over and cast a spell. Almost immediately, the swelling reduced and Oshitari let out a breath of relief. Gakuto smiled, that was enough proof to change anyone's mind. Oshitari caught Gakuto giving him a smirk.

"Fine, you might be right after all," he sighed and put on his shoes.

'come on let's go find the other," Gakuto smiled and ran off. This time, Oshitari caught up.

-----

"Atobe-san, shouldn't we look for Mukahi-san and Oshitari-san?" the group had completed their snowboarding trip long ago but the pair hasn't join them despite it.

"No need, here they come," Atobe gestured to the pair who was making their way up the snowy hill.

"Nice timing," Shishido commented as his team mates arrived.

"Oh right, it was awesome! We fell into an ice cave and then there was this-" Oshitari immediately clamped his hand over Gakuto's mouth before his partner could say more.

"We shouldn't tell them, I'll explain why later," Oshitari whispered into Gakuto's ear before letting him go.

"Is there something you do not wish to share with ore-sama?" Atobe demanded.

"Of course not, its cold, can we go inside?" Oshitari replied calmly, avoiding the question.

"Fine, oh by the way, which ice cave did you enter?" Atobe asked.

"The one down the skiing path," Gakuto immediately answered.

"Ah, I see. That cave belongs to ore-sama."

-----


End file.
